The use of low-grade lignite fuel in modern thermal power engineering and household (municipal) economy was considered. A set of analytical methods for the study of fossil coals and the subsequent assessment of their technological characteristics was proposed. Experimental data on the material composition, physicochemical properties, and heat and power characteristics of a number of coal deposits in Mongolia were obtained and analyzed.

X-ray diffractometry, X-ray fluorescence, and ICP-MS have been used to study the phase and elemental composition of the thermal coal from the Pavlovsk brown coal deposit and their ash-forming compounds. The results of the spectral analysis methods were combined with the data of thermal gravimetry, elemental analysis of OM, and scanning electron microscopy. The metal-bearing potential of the thermal coal from the deposit and the prospects for the associated extraction of useful components have been estimated. A set of analytical methods is proposed for the rapid assessment of the content of valuable and significant elements in solid fossil fuels for the comprehensive development of the coal deposits.

The complex analysis of the chemical composition and technological properties of oil shale from the Green River formation was carried out. The technical characteristics and granulometric composition of test samples and the element compositions of the mineral and organic matters of shale rocks were determined. The structure of organomineral aggregates formed upon the crushing of shale rocks was studied by electron microscopy. Based on the experimental data, a procedure was developed for the separation of kerogen from the oil shale by physicochemical processing.

Излагаются результаты комплексного изучения белгородской и павловской свит верхнего кампана, суходольской свиты переходного от кампана к маастрихту интервала, а также ефремово-степановской свиты маастрихта. На основе анализа менявшихся литологических показателей и коррелятивно связанного с ними состава биотических сообществ выделены разделенные перерывами три стадии развития (белгородско-павловская, суходольская и ефремово-степановская) морского бассейна, обрамлявшего с севера приподнятое сооружение палеозойского Донбасса в позднем кампане и раннем маастрихте. Каждая стадия характеризовалась определенным типом осадконакопления, усилением или ослаблением сноса терригенного материала с Донбасса и, возможно, с Украинского щита, флуктуациями температуры и глубины, а также направлением биогеографических связей. На белгородско-павловской стадии морской бассейн был относительно глубоководным и умеренно тепловодным, с нормальной соленостью и преимущественно карбонатным осадконакоплением. Суходольская стадия с терригенным типом седиментации, преобладанием агглютинирующих фораминифер, наряду с обилием радиолярий, происходила при регрессии морского бассейна и похолодании и отвечает глобальному “кампанско-маастрихтскому пограничному событию”. В первой половине ефремово-степановской стадии возобновилось существенно карбонатное осадконакопление, имели место потепление, трансгрессия и углубление бассейна, которые сменились новой регрессией в конце этого интервала.

The phase and elemental compositions of the ash-forming compounds of brown coals from the Nazarovskoe deposit of the Kansk-Achinsk basin were studied by X-ray diffractometry and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. A procedure for the microwave preparation of the test samples of brown coal for analysis by atomic-absorption spectrometry to determine noble metal concentrations was proposed and experimentally tested. A set of spectrometric methods of analysis and microwave sample preparation is proposed for the rapid determination of minerals and noble metal compounds as the constituents of solid fossil fuels.

The study present the results of the integrated study on the Belgorod and Pavlovka formations (upper Campanian), Sukhodol Formation (Campanian-Maastrichtian), and Efremovo-Stepanovka Formation (Maastrichtian). Variations in lithological indicators and associated changes in the biotic assemblages were used to distinguish three stages in the basin evolution separated by hiatuses (Belgorod-Pavlovka, Sukhodol, and Efremovo-Stepanovka). This basin occupied the upland area in the north of the Paleozoic Donets Basin during late Campanian-early Maastrichtian times. Each stage was characterized by a specific depositional environment accompanied either by a decrease or by an increase in the terrigenous sediment supply from the Donets Basin and, possibly, Ukrainian Shield and sea-level and temperature fluctuations, as well as specific paleobiogeographic relations. During the Belgorod-Pavlovka stage, the basin was characterized by relatively deep-water environments, with warm waters and normal salinity, and predominantly carbonate sedimentation. The Sukhodol stage was marked by terrigenous sedimentation, a predominance of the agglutinated foraminiferal forms, and abundant radiolarians, which occurred during a marine regression and overall cooling. This stage corresponds to the global "Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary event." The first half of the Efremovo-Stepanovka stage was marked by resumed carbonate sedimentation, warming, transgression, and deepening of the basin, which were replaced by a renewed regression at the end of this time interval.

Four upper Campanian-lower Maastrichtian reference sections are described in the Glubokaya and Kalitva river basins and in the Znamenka 1-A Borehole located in the northwestern Rostov region. The sections are composed of the upper Campanian Kagal’nik, Belgorod, Pavlovka, Sukhodol and lower Maastrichtian Efremovo-Stepanovka formations. They are characterized by successive stratigraphically significant macro- and microfossil assemblages: belemnites, calcareous nannoplankton, benthic foraminifers, and radiolarians. The Pavlovka and, particularly, Sukhodol formations contain a specific assemblage of coarsely-agglutinated benthic foraminifers. The first data obtained on radiolarians in upper Campanian-lower Maastrichtian sections of the northwestern Rostov region revealed four assemblages, two of which were previously unknown from Upper Cretaceous sediments of the East European Platform. Most sections enclose a hiatus at the base of the Sukhodol Formation, which comprises two upper Campanian benthic foraminiferal zones. The problem of recognition of the lower Maastrichtian boundary on the East European Platform is considered in accordance with international GSSP requirements.

Electrochemically treated acid wastedump water is assumed a promising intensifier for heap leaching of Cu-Zn ores. The electrochemical water preparation allows reagent-free adjustment of acid-base and redox properties and ion composition of water product, as well as the saturation of the water with fine-dispersion electrolysis gases. In this context, it is necessary to analyze the influence of the electrochemically treated wastedump water on pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite.